{"id":42796,"date":"2016-07-11T09:46:54","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T13:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=42796"},"modified":"2016-07-11T09:49:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T13:49:00","slug":"activist-deray-mckesson-on-the-complexity-of-being-black-and-gay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=42796","title":{"rendered":"Why is an avid LGBT activist &#8212; DeRay Mckesson &#8212; leading the Black Lives Matter movement?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"post-title single-title\">Activist DeRay Mckesson on the complexity of being black and gay<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>By Jorge Rivas<br \/>\nFUSION<\/p>\n<div class=\"single-article-wrapper\" data-postid=\"229269\" data-title=\"Activist Deray Mckesson on the complexity of being black and gay\" data-url=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/229269\/deray-mckesson-gay-blacklivesmatter\/\">\n<div id=\"article-content-0\" class=\"row main-content post-single single-content\">\n<div class=\"columns large-7 large-offset-0 medium-10 medium-offset-1 medium-offset-1 main-content-column end\">\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Black Lives Matter activist Deray Mckesson took the stage at a San Francisco gala on Saturday and opened up about the complexities of being black and gay.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZI5DHebDITU?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI stand here as a proud black gay man,\u201d said Mckesson, who has become one of the leading faces in the Black Lives Matter movement by keeping his <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/deray\" target=\"_blank\">245,000 followers on Twitter<\/a> informed about cases involving police using excessive force.<\/p>\n<p>Mckesson went on to speak about the dangers of living with an \u201ceither\/or\u201d mentality that doesn\u2019t acknowledge being both black and gay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen loving myself only looks one way, when protests are in the street or not at all, this puts constraints on the way that we express ourselves and the way that we can get free,\u201d Mckesson said in his five-minute speech on stage at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.glaad.org\/events\/glaad-gala-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\">gala hosted by GLAAD<\/a>, the national organization that works to ensure LGBT people are presented fairly in the media. The GLAAD event honored innovators who advanced LGBT acceptance through tech and media.<\/p>\n<p>Mckesson said Twitter allowed him and other people who care about police brutality to share stories and <a href=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/212405\/hillary-clinton-private-prisons-black-lives-matter\/\" target=\"_blank\">analysis<\/a>. He said the collective whispers on Twitter \u201cmade a noise that brought this conversation about race to the forefront in really powerful ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor so many of us, the world is a place where we\u2019re not suppose to make noise, where we\u2019re asked to hide who we are and be silent about the injustices that we face,\u201d said Mckesson, wearing the signature blue Patagonia vest he has worn to countless protests from Ferguson, Mo., last summer and fall, to North Charleston, S.C., in April.<\/p>\n<p>Mckesson was invited to the stage by actor Jussie Smollett from the Fox television <em>Empire<\/em>. \u201cHe is a black man, he is a gay man, and his voice is changing the world,\u201d Smollett said in his introduction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"speed-bump-wrapper speed-bump-freewheel_instream\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"instagram-embed-0\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/90Ojq-EZja\/embed\/captioned\/?v=7\" width=\"300\" height=\"622\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Mckesson also noted activists on Twitter have helped elevate news about the record <a href=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/187673\/blacklivesmatter-organizers-to-rally-for-black-transgender-women\/\" target=\"_blank\">21 transgender women<\/a> who have been brutally murdered this year.<\/p>\n<p>The Black Lives Matter movement was founded by three black queer woman; Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza. The founders have been <a href=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/187673\/blacklivesmatter-organizers-to-rally-for-black-transgender-women\/\" target=\"_blank\">explicit about including black LGBT people in their campaigns.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"wpcom-iframe-afb3d487c7253857cb26f170360b1ad4-73194874-57652230\" class=\"wpcom-protected-iframe\" src=\"http:\/\/fusionembeds.net\/protected-iframe\/afb3d487c7253857cb26f170360b1ad4-73194874-57652230\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article-wrapper\" data-postid=\"155681\" data-title=\"If you're confused about what race-baiting is, here's a bit of context\" data-url=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/155681\/if-youre-confused-about-what-race-baiting-is-heres-a-bit-of-context\/\">\n<div id=\"article-content-1\" class=\"row main-content post-single single-content\">\n<div class=\"columns large-7 large-offset-0 medium-10 medium-offset-1 medium-offset-1 main-content-column end\">\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/229269\/deray-mckesson-gay-blacklivesmatter\/\">http:\/\/fusion.net\/story\/229269\/deray-mckesson-gay-blacklivesmatter\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Activist DeRay Mckesson on the complexity of being black and gay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}